Category: Toronto Blogger

Crispy Rice Paper Rolls (Cha Gio)

Meet my favourite Vietnamese appetizer that I never order. Cha gio comes in either a rice paper wrapper, or more commonly a yellow egg wrapper. The rice paper wrapper is far superior in my books. With a fry, you get that chew, and light crisp, and all the filling. You can make these rolls to your preference: all vegetarian, without taro, or a combo of everything, like I have!

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Vegetable Chow Mein Noodles (No Wok Needed!)

The flavours in this chow mein recipe comes close to one of my favourites. The best chow mein I’ve tasted is from Sam’s Congee or that one Soy Bean place in Heritage Court (now a memory). The portion size from both restaurants are very small. And notice how at both places, they have…

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The Crispiest Vietnamese Crepe (Bánh Xèo)

Another childhood favourite! Sizzling Vietnamese crepes, aka Banh Xeo. The best crepes are crispy on the outside, and accompanied with loads of fresh vegetables. These crepes are filled with pork belly, shrimp, bean sprouts and, at times, mung bean, every bite is a treat. It’s always served with fresh, crunchy lettuce, as well…

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Shrimp & Beef Dumplings

I stopped having expectations on taste when making dumplings a while go. Often times, it’s not juicy enough or the wrapper is just not right. Recently, I connected the similarities of my favourite Chinese dumpling: bites of juicy shrimp, a soft outer dumpling wrapper and a savoury filling (with beef & shrimp). I’ve…

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Mini Porchetta Roll Sandwich

Spending hours by an oven is not my preference. My most used function on the oven is the broil mode – and I’m a pro. Set oven to broil on low, timer for 5 minutes, and you have the perfect day-two fries and wings from last night’s dinner! When came the opportunity to…

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Patatas Brava (Sliced Potato)

A delicious challenge arrived right to my doorstep, to re-create a recipe shared straight from page 60 of the Toronto Taste 2018 recipe booklet: Patatas Bravas, a recipe by Chef Ramon Simarro of Madrina. The recipe is a potato-based dish which is stacked and tightly knit. My mandolin limited me to 2mm of…

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Appreciating Gin Beyond A G&T

To be honest, I didn’t know much about gin beyond the ol’ G & T. I never imagined to sip it straight, and enjoy it. This all changed once when we attended Juniper Gardens : A UK Gin Revival event which introduced UK’s finest distilleries, held by LCBO and the British Consulate-General, Toronto….

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The Best 5-Ingredient Noodles

On the hunt for dried shrimp, I accidentally found something better: tiny dried shrimp. They’re light orange, thin and almost transparent. We had quite the debate at the dinner table on whether these were just the skin of shrimp, or just dried tiny shrimp. But it is, indeed just dried tiny shrimp! In…

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Pan-Seared Potato Bites

Buying a bag of potatoes is a commitment, let me tell you. Extending onto my sheperd’s pie recipe, another potato addition is hash! Boy do I love hash. This is now a new series: “What To Do With That Bag Of Potatoes (Before It Grows Spores)“. Influenced by an incredibly delicious plate of diced potatoes cooked…

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Onigiri Jasmine Rice (3 Fillings)

Making rice even tastier, with onigiri! Onigiri is a popular three-bite snack in Japan; iconically seen as triangular-shaped rice balls embellished with a rectangular seaweed strip. The onigiri is stuffed with savoury fillings. The rice ball can be seared, rolled in sesame or finished with seaweed. I created three varieties of this recipe…

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